PUNE, May 28: District Congress president Jagannath Shewale today said that the fate of Shiv Sena candidate Rameshchandra Dhamale contesting for the Assembly bye-election in Mulshi would be same as that of Suresh Kalmadi who lost the Pune Lok Sabha seat.Addressing newspersons at the Congress Bhavan, Shewale sought to draw a parallel between Dhamale and Kalmadi as both had left the Congress just before the elections. There was no satisfactory reason for Dhamale's having left the Congress to join the Shiv Sena, he said. There is a strong wave of resentment against Dhamale among the voters in Mulshi. Resentment has also spread among the Shiv Sena party workers in Mulshi as senior party leaders who were keen to contest the election were sidelined, Shewale said. and Congress candidate Kumar Gosavi would definitely benefit from it, Shewale claimed, stating that .Gosavi, would win the election with a margin of nearly 50,000 votes.The first round of the Congress election campaigning has been completed and in the last phase, public meetings of party leaders Chaggan Bhujbal, Ramkrishna More, Anantrao Thopte have been scheduled. Bhujbal will address a public meeting at Sanghvi and Baner on Friday, while MP Vitthal Tupe and Thopte will address meetings on May 30 at Ambegaon, Khanapur and Sutarwadi (Pashan). The alleged misrule of the BJP-Sena government in the state is the main highlight of the Congress campaign. The by-election is being held after Ashok Mohol relinquished the seat after he won the Khed Lok Sabha seat. The voting is scheduled for June 3.
